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Find your perfect pair

Carla Grossetti

Champagne and beer form the perfect union with food.
Champagne and beer form the perfect union with food. Supplied

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The common link between beer and Champagne, aside from bubbles, is that both can be expertly paired with food. But that's where the similarities end, says Chris Pavlidis, Director of Food and Beverage at The Westin Brisbane and Four Points by Sheraton Brisbane.

In the past, Pavlidis says Champagne would have been the clear winner in a hops versus grapes contest. Not anymore.

Pavlidis is well-placed to offer an opinion: he's a qualified sommelier and trained chef who curates quarterly beer degustation dinners at Four Points Brisbane and a Sunday Champagne Long Lunch at The Westin Brisbane once a month. He aims to both meet the demand of gourmands seeking new experiences and educate consumers.

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"An ice-cold beer and just-popped bottle of Champagne can both be expertly paired with food. In both cases, the acidity in the bubbles cleanses the palate. When it comes to food pairing, people want to have that satisfaction of the fine beads in Champagne and the bubbles in beer to quench their thirst. Both Champagne and beer form a perfect union with food," says Pavlidis.

Cleanse your palate with a just-popped bottle of Champage at The Westin, Brisbane.
Cleanse your palate with a just-popped bottle of Champage at The Westin, Brisbane.Supplied

"The best Champagne houses in the world have been there for hundreds of years. But we now have these local breweries making the best local craft beer and these very different worlds are suddenly coming together through a shared commitment to craftsmanship."

Roll out the barrel

Pavlidis says the popularity of craft beer has awakened people to different beer flavours, as they would have in the past with wine or Champagne.

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"Many of our customers are equally happy to do a five-course degustation with paired vintage wines or Champagne and then try a craft beer degustation with beautiful beer and food, too," he says.

Four Points by Sheraton Brisbane's latest Beer Degustation with Helios Brewing includes a Blood Orange Midas paired with spinach and pine-nut stuffed chicken roulade with Jerusalem artichoke puree; the Khaos IPA goes with crab risotto, preserved lemon and dill and the Goddess Ravishing Red Rye with braised beef cheek, olive mash potato. Then there's a Poseidon American Pale Ale paired with a maple-roasted pumpkin salad and a Hade's bitter chocolate stout with warm apple pie for dessert.

Wash down a hearty meal with a Blood Orange Midas at Four Points by Sheraton, Brisbane.
Wash down a hearty meal with a Blood Orange Midas at Four Points by Sheraton, Brisbane. Supplied

Helios Brewing Company's Scott Shomer co-designed the degustation and suggests "spicy street food and robust dude food" as a great counterpoint to a beer with a creamy head. Unsurprisingly, meals with fattiness, creaminess and astringency tend to go better with beer.

"Beer is very much multi-dimensional. You can pair it with everything from a hamburger to a really complex cheese and cracker plate. There's a huge spectrum of craft beer that ranges from very light to very dark and heavy so it pairs well with many different foods because of that," Shomer says.

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Shomer says he included a red rye on the beer degustation menu to appeal to a broader audience of non-beer drinkers. "Red ryes are multi-sweet, with peppery spiciness from the rye. They are not usually aggressively bitter and pair perfectly with pizza and hamburgers," he says.

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